Final act of hero's return

June 7, 2003 — 10.00am

Jason McCartney last night completed his courageous comeback to AFL football by announcing his retirement.

After creating a crucial last-quarter goal in the club's dramatic three-point win over Richmond, the Kangaroo defender told the crowd he had decided after being selected in the team on Tuesday that his body was spent and needed a rest.

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McCartney, who had geared his eight-month recovery from last year's Bali bomb blasts around his December wedding and a return to senior football, had shared his retirement plans with only a handful of people before the game, including teammates Anthony Stevens and Glenn Archer.

"I think I've used up every bit of my determination through my fitness and mental effort and I find it fitting now that I hang the boots up as of tonight," McCartney said.

"It's been a tough time. It's been a big mental battle to get where I am today. Physically, my body is still healing and it's been hard carrying the hopes of a nation."

McCartney, who started the match on the bench, didn't have a touch in the first half but played a crucial role for the Kangaroos in a tense final quarter during which the Tigers lost star defender Darren Gaspar to a serious knee injury.

Less than one minute into the term he outmuscled Richmond defender Andrew Kellaway on the lead and goaled to put the Roos nine points up. Then, Richmond having snatched the lead back through Brad Ottens, McCartney got his foot to a ball about 30 metres out from goal, forced it into the goal square and watched Leigh Harding run on to score the match-winner.

He was swamped by delirious teammates on the final siren and approached by all the Richmond players.

The match also marked the return of Tiger ruckman Ottens, who had spinal surgery on the eve of the season, while Kangaroo defender Leigh Colbert was rushed to hospital with severe vomiting and concussion after a second-quarter collision with a teammate.

Kangaroo president Allen Aylett offered an early indication of McCartney's mindset when he revealed before the match that the 29-year-old felt so disillusioned after straining his calf in a VFL match for Port Melbourne last month that he called his mother and told her he no longer thought he could go through with his comeback.

"He said to his mum it was time to give up the fight," said Aylett at the chairman's dinner. "In stepped his mum, Jan. Jan strongly reminded Jason that she and he had not travelled hundreds of kilometres to play the game he loved just to give up now because of a muscle injury caused by the Bali bombers.

"That fleeting moment of self-doubt soon gave way to a new desire to fight back, and now less than a month later he has reached his goal."

McCartney led his teammates onto the ground wearing the numbers 88 and 202 on the front of his Kangaroo guernsey in recognition of the number of Australians who were killed in the attacks last October, and the total death toll.

He had been joined in the rooms before the game by his father Ian, brothers Brendan and Stephen and best friend Peter Hughes, who was with McCartney and former teammate Mick Martyn in Bali when the bombs hit. His brave return was also watched by Thomas Kossman, the director of trauma services at the Alfred Hospital who oversaw McCartney's initial treatment when he was flown by helicopter from Darwin to Melbourne, and more than 100 family, friends, fellow Bali survivors and staff members from the Alfred.

Before the game, the Australian victims were honoured in a video played on the Telstra Dome scoreboard, and representatives from five football clubs who lost players in the attacks were presented to the crowd. Retired Melbourne player Steven Febey and young Demon Steven Armstrong, who suffered shrapnel injuries in the blast, also attended the match.

Aylett said it had been a privilege for everyone at North Melbourne to have played a small part in McCartney's "courageous and inspirational" comeback, and predicted worldwide interest his return.

"Jason's fightback has struck a chord with the football fraternity and beyond. He is one of the faces of the Bali tragedy and a symbol of the determination of so many to rebuild their lives," he said.